Mech. Shoe factory Wolf & Comp.
The Mech. Schuhfabrik Wolf & Comp. In the Heilbronn district of Sontheim was a shoe factory that existed from 1890 to 1970 in Hofgartenstraße in Sontheim and sold its shoes under the name Wolko . The factory founded by Jewish business people was Aryanized during the National Socialist era and restored after the Second World War .
history
In 1889 the Salomon Israel factory was founded in Öhringen . In the second generation, Salomon Israel's sons Isaak (born January 19, 1863 in Ernsbach; † October 20, 1933 in Heilbronn), Moriz (* 1874 in Heilbronn; † 1958 in New York) and Albert took part in the father's company, as well as the Son-in-law Hermann Wolf (born November 4, 1862 in Stebbach , † October 14, 1926 in Heilbronn). The Wolko brand was short for Mech. Schuhfabrik Wolf & Comp.
In 1891 the company relocated to Sontheim, where the heirs of the Tscherning trading company bought a property that had been built in 1760 as a tobacco factory for the Bianchi family and was then owned by the businessman August Schreiber . In 1900 there were 200 workers at Wolko . Villa Wolf was built for the Israel / Wolf entrepreneurial family in 1903/04 . In 1907/08 the factory in Sontheim was expanded to include a newly built, five-storey factory building. The workforce at that time was around 800. The company not only included facilities directly used for shoe production, but also operated its own locksmith's shop, carpentry shop, etc.
Gerhard Wolf (son of Hermann Wolf) and his cousin Ernst Israel (son of Albert Israel) arranged for a further expansion of the factory in 1927/28 that Wolf & Comp. the shoe production took place on the assembly line . At that time the company had around 1110 employees, and every day 4000 pairs of women's shoes and 1000-2000 simple shoes were produced.
At the time of National Socialism, the factory was converted into a GmbH under the management of the previous directors Eugen and Alfred Beck, later expropriated and placed under a bank consortium for the purpose of Aryanization . Isaak Israel died in Heilbronn in October 1933, Moriz Israel moved to Berlin in 1934 and fled to the USA via Zurich in 1937 or 1938, Albert Israel was deported to a concentration camp and died there. Gerhard Wolf, Ernst Israel and Eugen Israel were also expatriated and emigrated, as did the former managing director Adolf Herz, who had been freed from the Dachau concentration camp by Eugen Beck .
After the outbreak of the Second World War, the shoe factory also temporarily produced three shoe factories outsourced from Pirmasens before they returned to Pirmasens after the end of the French campaign . As a result, part of AEG's electrical goods production was housed in Wolko buildings, while the actual shoe factory only had 120 employees. Towards the end of the war, the Wolko building served as a Red Cross station and emergency hospital, and the maternity ward of the bombed-out Heilbronn women's clinic was also housed in the rooms.
The expropriated owner Gerhard Wolf got the factory back after the end of the war and rebuilt shoe production there. In 1959 the company was converted into a stock corporation. In 1961 Wolko employed around 700 people. In the 1960s, the black silhouette of a standing wolf from the right served as the corporate logotype.
When competition from cheap imports from Italy and Asia became stiff in the late 1960s, the company began to decline. From 1967 no more dividends could be distributed. In 1969 the company only had 300 employees and sold some of the machines. The supervisory board decided to dissolve the company. Production ended in January 1970.
The factory buildings came into the possession of the city of Heilbronn in 1970, which initially leased the buildings to various companies. The demolition of the buildings began in 1977, and in 1978 a development plan was adopted that included the conversion of the former industrial area into a residential area. After the city's ideas competition, the Wolko redevelopment area was built over with single-family row houses in 1984 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Entry for Moriz Israel in the contemporary history collection at the Heilbronn City Archives, call number ZS-12947
- ↑ Life data of Wolf to the city of Heilbronn (ed.): Address book of the city of Heilbronn 1950 , Heilbronn 1950, p. 92.
- ↑ Certified Award of the Claims Resolution Tribunal from May 6, 2006 (PDF; 97.5 kB)
- ↑ Werner Föll: Chronik der Stadt Heilbronn, Volume X, 1970–1974 , Heilbronn 1999, p. 9/10
literature
- Hans Franke : History and Fate of the Jews in Heilbronn. From the Middle Ages to the time of the National Socialist persecution (1050–1945). Heilbronn City Archives, Heilbronn 1963, ISBN 3-928990-04-7 ( Publications of the Heilbronn City Archives . Volume 11), pp. 206–207
- Christhard Schrenk, Hubert Weckbach: "... for your account and risk". Invoices and letterheads from Heilbronn companies . Heilbronn City Archives, Heilbronn 1994, ISBN 3-928990-48-9 ( Small series of publications by the Heilbronn City Archives . Volume 30).
- Company Schuhfabrik Wolf & Co (Wolko) . In: Sontheim 1188–1988. Historical memories on the occasion of the 800th anniversary . Sontheimer Open Circle, Sontheim 1988
- Details on expropriation during National Socialism on crt-ii.org (PDF; 97 kB)